Forum - View topicWhat are you reading right now? Why?
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TsunaReborn!
 Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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Hmm I've just finished the second volume and I must say it hasn't lived up to what I expected - that's not to say I'm not enjoying it as I can't wait to start volume 3 later on this evening. I do have two gripes about the second volume (which are cause and effect of each other), they are that the story/evens seem to rush into one another which then doesn't leave time for character development or much character integration outside of battle.
I will use an example: spoiler[after the battle that ensued during the refugee drop off Amuro decided that he was going to find his mother as his family home was 100km from thier resting point. After some short evens he found her at a refugee camp near the enemy lines. He arrives and find her very quickly (a bit too quickly for my liking, it would have been a little more interesting if he had to do some hunting and the shock of him revealing himself to her) but the reunion was still very heart warming. Sayla is told to retrieve him. After very little dialog between the two and her hiding Amuro from some enemy guards (I guess) and him ending up shooting one; an argument follows and she ends up calling him pathetic (this will seem more unnecessary in a few). He ends up back in the jeep he arrived in running from the enemy, Sayla appears out of nowhere saves the day (it was all very rushed but forgivable). Suddenly they are back at the ship, the mother has some how appeared there and seems to have forgotten about their argument as well as the evens that lead to it. After Amuro decides to continue serving under Commander Bright he leaves her in the desert only saying "Please be well, dear mother."... This is the first time he has seen his mother after leaving Earth when he was 6ish (? Guessing from character design) and that's all you have to say, no hug, no crying from ether one. It all seemed very pointless if that was the outcome.] There are quite a few events that happen that leave you with questions that don't seem to be fully explained or explored. So after that rant/description/mess above my main problem is that I do not believe the characters and they can be very bipolar. I hope the next volume slows down and we are given time to understand and get to know the characters. All in all I would still say, Lengarion, its worth picking up and I have not changed my rating but enter with caution and be willing to fill in the gaps with what you believe to be reasonable explanations. |
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Brainchild129
Posts: 307 |
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Yeah, I've read through the third volume, and while it's been interesting, good lord can Amuro be a selfish little bastard. I can't say I'm a fan of Frau either, but that's mostly because she's rather useless. My favorite parts were the ones where Amuro got slapped by Bright.
I just finished The Key to the Kingdom, and it genuinely surprised me with how good it was. The story was solid, being both internally consistent and not getting lost in worldbuilding like so many lesser Tolkien wannabes. I liked that the lead was a boy, and one who succeeds more by using his brains and will than strength (and one who isn't involved in any sort of romance). The artwork was equally good, lovely and delicate. Mostly it serves as yet another example of some of the good, understated stuff CMX picked up but had no idea how to market. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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Oh cool, someone else who read Key to the Kingdom! Not counting the people on here who convinced me, of course
But I do feel the need to mention, based on the covers, it took me like, 20 pages to figure out the main was a guy, not a girl. But not having romance involved in a shojo is like a breath of fresh air. Even From Far Away and Basara, my two favorite fantasy shojo, had romances (not matter how improbable Basara's was). Now, I'm trying to think of shojo period without some form of romance (even if not the mains). Baby & Me rather counts I think, though some of the girls has middle school crushes on the (clueless) boys |
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Brainchild129
Posts: 307 |
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Natsume's Book of Friends is another example of shoujo without romance, unless that changes after the first 4 or 5 volumes I read.
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phia_one
Posts: 1657 Location: Pennsylvania |
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I finally finished Ouran High School Host Club. I had been putting it off because I didn't like how the tone changed so drastically. It went from being episodic to HOLY CRAP WE HAVE A PLOT AND DRAMA. Despite that, I did enjoy the character building toward the end.
Now I'm considering rereading EyeShield 21. |
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TsunaReborn!
Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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I've just finished reading Flowers of Evil 7 and I was surprised at the direction it is taking. I wasn't expecting the spoiler[time skip] which has left a lot of questions, which with this being Flowers of Evil, they will most likely be answered further down the line with I guess spoiler[Nakamura's return]. As much as I wish they held off on the spoiler[time skip] I guess it was needed as after the events of the fair the aftermath would have been similar to that of the spoiler[ stolen underwear incident]. Overall I enjoyed this instalment though I am a little worried about spoiler[Tokiwa's boyfriend] and the angle that might be heading in, I look forward to volume 8.
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crosswithyou
 Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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It does not change. I'm totally hooked on Slam Dunk right now and am in the middle of vol. 14 of the kanzenban. Sooooooooo gooooooood!!! Now THIS is how you do sports manga! None of the super moves nonsense. I love KuroBas, but it's got nothing on Slam Dunk. I only watched a portion of the anime back in high school. Will have to get my hands on the series somehow so I can watch it from beginning to end, but I'll get to that after I've finished reading the manga. |
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crosswithyou
Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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Just finished reading SLAM DUNK.
OMG, I nearly cried on the train. Hanamichiiiiiiiii!!! This series is SO good!!! T____T If I had the room for it and didn't have to worry about possibly moving back to the States in the future, I would totally buy this series. (No, I didn't read scans-- Borrowed the books from work.) As much as I love KuroBas, it has nothing on a classic like SLAM DUNK. I can only imagine how popular this series was when it was being serialized. Really curious as to how it compares to series like ONE PIECE and Shingeki no Kyojin in regards to readership by the general public. Okay, Shingeki is probably still a way's off, but was SLAM DUNK back in the day like ONE PIECE today? Man this was a great series! spoiler[When I got to the beginning of vol.23 (I read the kanzenban which is bigger than the regular volumes), I kinda knew that Shohoku wouldn't win the championship since there was only one more volume and they weren't even in the semi-finals yet. I wasn't sure if Shohoku would beat Sannou but it's nice to see that they did, and I think it was a great ending to have them lose in the next room without actually even showing the match. So bittersweet. It's like the first Rocky movie where what makes it great is that they lose.] Will start reading the latest volume of Karneval tomorrow. |
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RAmmsoldat
 Posts: 1261 Location: North wales coast |
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I've been grabbing volumes of slam dunk based soley on the other works of inoue (vagabond, real) so I've not started reading just yet. id like to have a few volumes more before i get into it.
Need to find vol.9 atm |
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crosswithyou
Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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You won't be disappointed. It is SO. GOOD. |
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zawa113
Posts: 7357 |
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So I'm not done with CMX, yay! I say this because I spontaneously bought many vols of Swan for dirt cheap (and the remaining ones are mostly cheap), so thats upcoming, but first, Kiichi and the Magic Books. Yeah, the House of 1000 Manga helped convince me, 5 vols really is the right length for it. Vol 1 definitely started off not quite sure where it was going, but it had solid footing towards the end of that, then was just adventure the whole time. But the end vol left me a little wanting, because it introduced a new character just for one reason it seems (I don't want to go into spoilers) and they were barely in two chapters, and that left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth. But the ending didn't feel a total cop out either, so I can appreciate that.
But yeah, more good CMX, yay! Shame they went out, they had soooo much good! |
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RAmmsoldat
Posts: 1261 Location: North wales coast |
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well i like sports manga so it'd have to be absolutely terrible for me to dislike it. gotta find volume 9 |
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TsunaReborn!
Posts: 4713 Location: Cheltenham UK |
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I've just finished reading No.6 3 & Claymore 23.
I enjoyed this volume of No.6; I like how it slowed down and we got to discover more about each characters relationships with each other. Claymore 23, I cannot type enough praises about this series. It is hands down my No.1 series. spoiler[Its a shame it seems to be wrapping up - but if I am to believe possible spoilers I accidentally stumbled across some time ago there could be a big twist on its way which will hopefully keep the series going.] I feel Claymore has so much more to give. This volume was again packed full of action and surprises which for once I'm glad that it didn't mess about and draw out (big spoiler warning ->)spoiler[ Like Raki and Claire's reunion - which brought quite a few tears to my eyes.] I already can't wait for volume 24! |
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crosswithyou
Posts: 2892 Location: California |
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Finished reading the latest volume (12) of Karneval yesterday. Gareki cracked me up. Just when you think he would get emotional... Nope! XDDD
Next up is the latest volume of Yondemasuyo, Azazel san.! And then I will have run out of things to read again. ^^;; Perhaps I'll take my friend up on his offer to lend me the JoJo manga. |
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zawa113
Posts: 7357 |
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So, I finally got to read v 1 of No.6 (because the comic shop now has some in), and yeah, they don't have v2, but I'll probably pick up v3 tomorrow when I go to return that accidental duplicate. Hit lots of right notes for me, mostly by reminding me a lot of Toward the Terra, so I'm interested to see where it goes.
On the fluffy end of things, I also got v1 of Sweet Rein because I so enjoyed Tsukuba Sakura's CMX works (and Sweet Rein v3 should have a Penguin Revolution side story, yay!) and yeah, it's cute and fluffy and for some reason santa and human transforming into reindeer. Not even gonna ask how that makes any biological sense. The master-slave thing at once annoys me, but isn't so annoying it ruins anything either (or maybe I just dislike master-slave relationships in manga like this, ie, way too happy to be her slave sort of thing) but yeah, I will definitely get more. And also, it's comics though not manga, Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake came out! I'm so damn psyched Natasha Allegri will probably get to do more Bee & Puupycat because damn is she awesome! Though this does expect that you've seen the Fionna & Cake episode, just an fyi. Actually, I might as well just throw out there that I like all of the Adventure Time comics, I hear they're not canon, but they fit in so damn well you'd never notice or care and they feel perfectly like the TV show in comic form on top of it so yeah, I buy pretty much all the AT comics (well when they come out in TPB, since I'm so used to buying manga, buying issues seems weird to me, I'll be patient instead) |
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